Research

My research interests

My research focus, broadly stated, pertains to the study of the various "causes" of economic inequality --- that is, the economic mechanisms, legal and political institutions, and other historical developments responsible for the maintenance of the elevated levels of inequality which are universal in modern market economies --- and of the relative importance of said causes. I am particularly interested in the potential for interdisciplinary approaches and methods to cast new light on these questions.

What am I working on now?

I am currently working as a research assistant at the Santa Fe Institute, where I am assisting Sam Bowles and Mattia Fochesato on an ambitious interdisciplinary project which proposes a theory of the emergence of enduring wealth inequality in the late Neolithic and early Bronze Age. Independently, I am in the process of polishing the second half of my master's thesis, in which I develop and study an agent-based model for the class division of income in a two-sector economy.

Working papers

"Twenty-five years of random asset exchange modeling," (with H. Oliver Gao), submitted to and awaiting review at Reviews of Modern Physics.